HindustanTimes 15.02.2010

Not only will it be comfortable to walk on but the structure will be appealing to the eyes too.

The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) has come up with an aesthetically designed foot-overbridge (FOB) that will be the first-of its kind in Delhi. The civic agency has started construction work for the FOB on Africa Avenue Road whose design will resemble suspension bridges.

This type of bridge has cables suspended between towers.

“We have designed this FOB on the lines of suspension bridges which is quite uncommon for FOBs. Not much attention is paid on the aesthetic side while constructing FOB’s but in this case we spent a lot of time deciding on the design,” said a senior NDMC official.

The civic agency had appointed Delhi Integrated Multi-Model transit System as the consultant for the project to carry out a detailed survey of pedestrian and vehicular traffic for this location.

“The survey pointed out that there was huge volume of traffic on this particular stretch and a grade separator was needed. We therefore decided to construct a FOB. The area around it will also be improved by us,” added the official.

Work has already begun on the site and the cost of the project is Rs 4 crore.

The FOB will be fitted with four escalators. NDMC had given a nod for construction of foot overbridges, underpasses and subways in its area, which will approximately cost Rs 75 crore.

The approval was granted at a meeting of the Council held in January.

As per the project, three FOBs would be constructed at Africa Avenue, Mother Teresa Crescent and Park Street. Two subways would be constructed at Mandir Marg and Shahjahan Road while two underpasses would be built at Baba Kharak Singh Marg and Shantipath after the Games.

All the three FOBs will have different designs with the one at Africa Avenue being the most different.These foot-over bridges have been designed to encourage pedestrians to use them to crossover.

“We had no space constraint at Africa Avenue which is why we could construct such an FOB there,” added the official. FOB at the Mother Teresa Crescent has cable design and will cost around Rs 3 crore while the one at Park Street will be equipped with escalators and elevators too and will cost Rs. 3 crore.

“Work has begun there too and this will be fitted with escalators too,” said the official.

Business Standard 12.02.2010

Central team to review JNNURM progress

A Central team is visiting Karnataka shortly to review progress of the Centrally-funded Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) being implemented in Mysore and Bangalore.

Charging the state of apathy towards Centrally-sponsored schemes and the Mysore city administration of failing to execute JNNURM projects, Mysore Congress MP A H Viswanath said today he had written to the Urban Development Department on JNNURM’s poor progress in Mysore.

Ridiculing the announcement of the Mysore City Corporation (MCC) commissioner that the recently inaugurated Rs 15-crore city bus stand would be turned into a cycle-cum-tonga stand, the MP said its modernisation was an outcome of the JNNURM review meetings presided over by the deputy commissioner himself.

“It makes no sense to say just two months after its inauguration that it would be converted into a cycle-cum-tonga stand and the KSRTC should move out. The Rs 11 crore out of Rs 15 crore spent on the project is public money and calls for responsibility,” he said here.

Viswanath said the decisions were taken with a lack of foresight and without consulting elected representatives. The so-called fortnightly review meetings were an eye wash, he said adding, he had fixed inspection of the JNNURM projects three times, but the DC went on leave on all occasions. “I do not want to be a party to the power point presentation meetings where full-fledged review is given a go by,” he remarked. No one really knows what is happening under JNNURM,” he remarked.

While there was no district minister to supervise development schemes, the state government too was apathetic to the JNNURM projects as no leader evinced interest in its implementation. “Like other centrally-funded schemes, JNNURM too is neglected, the BJP government is allergic to its projects,” he charged suspecting motives behind it.

At the Mysore City Traffic Review Committee meeting yesterday, presided over by DC P Manivannan, MCC Commissioner K S Raikar gave an ultimatum to the KSRTC authorities to shift the city bus stand without further delay to the suburban bus stand. Plans are afoot to make the two km radius around the Palace a ‘heritage centre’ banning polluting vehicles and converting the bus stand at K R Circle into a tonga and cycle stand.

Referring to yesterday’s Cabinet decision to withdraw three criminal complaints lodged against ministers Sriramulu, Janardhan Reddy, mine owners in Bellary, Viswanath said, “It will send wrong signals to violent forces and give a fillip to criminal activities.”

Bemoaning the present political scenario in the state, Viswanath called on top leaders of all three major political parties to stop mud-slinging. “Such maligning will not benefit the people. They are frustrated. A good atmosphere should be created by ending personal attacks and diverting attention to state’s development,” he said.